I’d been aware, however, of the Bellati watching us the entire time. Like he couldn’t even look away for an instant. It was more than rude. It was almost—voyeuristic. And something inside me had responded. Something I didn’t want to examine too closely.
I told myself the twins were all that mattered. That we had to do whatever we could to get them back.
But my heart told me just how much of a lie that really was. My body did, too. The further away from her I walked, the harder it was to put one foot in front of the other.
Aaron was more of a burden than he should be. I hated to admit I was still stonkered from Anna draining me. The bludger was coming around, which gave me the excuse I needed, so I slammed his melon a little harder into a stone wall.
I pushed on as fast as I could because I had to get Anna help. Preferably, help of the scaly kind.
Thoughts of Dragons brought Talakai to mind. The bloke was the lowest of the low—to steal someone’s children. It didn’t get any worse than that. But thinking that about him bothered me.
I was just a confused mess, really.
Then I caught the merest whiff of scent, there and gone. My instincts prickled, and I yanked myself out of my dark thoughts.
Those I passed on the street were giving me odd looks. I had the hood up on my borrowed cloak, but the boots I’d yanked on had burst laces, and my calves above them were bare and showed streaks of dried blood.
Plus, I had another bloke slung over my shoulder.
No one else seemed inclined to cart their neighbors around in such a manner. I figured that if this wasn’t an underworld city, the local coppers would be all over me.
But it was, and the residents knew better than to ask questions. Which was good. Because I didn’t have a clue how to use the bloody Unicorn horn, and I didn’t want to take the time to shift. If I even had the energy to do more than sprout claws.
Didn’t mean that someone wouldn’t decide I was an easy mark, though. They couldn’t know that I lacked anything of value.
If my mental map was accurate, I wasn’t far from the gate. But then my nose carried the scent to me again, and I froze.
Cat.
And not just any cat.
I straightened as the blur of pure rage came at me. Or rather, not at me, but at Aaron.
A roar pierced the air, and Darius’s accomplice was ripped off my shoulder and slammed, rather hard, up against a wall.
Cody. Only what pushed huge canines into Aaron’s face was the farthest thing from the calm, controlled instructor that I could imagine. He was in human form, but only barely—muscles rippled and writhed as he fought off his beast. Dark fur erupted and then fell away in endless waves. His shirt seams had ripped wide open, as had those along his thighs. And the air was rank with the smell of infuriated cat.
“Where,” he bellowed at Aaron, “are my children?”
A sleek form with copious hair ran from the shadows, and Kitani was right there with him. Her human lips peeled back from vicious teeth. Ryan appeared to stand with them, his hands sprouting claws on fingers that trembled.
Cody lifted Aaron straight up into the air—a two-hundred-plus-pound deadlift that I could not have managed even if I’d been at full strength—and then slammed him into the wall again.
It brought Aaron back to consciousness in a rush. His eyes widened.
Ryan moved up alongside his mate. “Easy, bro. If you kill him, any possible link to the girls goes with him.”
If Cody heard him, he gave no sign. The big Sabre was breathing hard, struggling for control.
I moved closer to them. “We know where they were taken. Place called Eras. Sebastian is on his way. Anna’s with him, but we need to bring help.” I handed Ryan the map, and the horn fell out onto the ground.
Cody shot me a look, and I swallowed at the copper beast gleaming at me. The bloke was barely holding on. I supposed if they were my kids, I’d be in a similar state.
Kitani placed a hand on his arm. “Just breathe, Cody. We will find them. Killing Aaron achieves nothing. We might need him.” The rage in her voice belied the words.
The arm holding Aaron trembled, and Cody took a deep, ragged breath. His fist moved so fast I didn’t see it, connecting with Aaron’s jaw. I heard the crack of bone, and the Dire slumped in Cody’s grasp.
“I know this realm,” Cody ground out. “Eras is a five-hour hard run from here.”
